Candle milling machine



Feb. 10, 1970 N. G. BARFRED 3,494,254

CANDLE MILLING MACHINE Filed Nov. '7, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig! r 11- 2g L 28 2 i 29. 27 /5 i ll 3.5 25 a/ 33 5 35 I0 9 ,l L 26' 6 I -g 32 h 2/3O J //VVE/Y7UP Mas GEO/F6 5417/2 60 37 A roe v 6 Feb. 10, 1970 N. G.BARFRED 3,494,254

CANDLE MILLING MACHINE Filed Nov. '7, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR musscone BARFRED ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,494,254 CANDLE MILLINGMACHINE Niels Georg Barfred, Hojbjerghus, Holte, Denmark Filed Nov. 7,1967, Ser. No. 681,183 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Nov.7, 1966,

49,808/ 66 Int. Cl. B23c 1/00, 3/00, 7/00 U.S. CI. 90-14 3 ClaimsABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The invention relates to a machine formilling the ends of candle blanks, which comprises one or more sets ofmilling cutters, each set consisting of two cutters; means for movingsaid cutters towards and from one another; a holder for clamping one ormore candle blanks, said holder being adapted to move the candle blanksinto and away from the milling position; and means for synchronizing thevarious movements of said movable parts in response to an impulse from acandle blank supply mechanism.

This invention relates to a machine for milling the ends of candleblanks.

In the modern development of the candle making industry, the old art ofcasting the candles individually in moulds is gradually being abandonedin favour of an extrusion process, in which the candle bodies areextruded as a continuous rod around the wick, the said rod beingsubsequently cut in appropriate lengths, the ends of which are thenmilled to make a proper candle form.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a machine, in whichthis milling of the ends of the candle body blank enclosing a wick canbe performed automatically at high speed without any manual operation,once the machine has been adjusted to a particular length of candle, alloperations being controlled and guided by the supply of the candleblanks to the machine.

Accordingly, the machine of the invention comprises at least one pair ofmilling cutters being movable towards and from one another forsimultaneous milling of both ends of a candle body to the desired form,and in between said cutters a candle body holder being adapted to moveinto and away from the path of movement of said cutters to hold thecandle bodies in the former position during the milling, and to receivefurther candle bodies with ejection of the milled ones in the latterposition, the said holder comprising jaws and means for opening the jawsin the receiving position and clamping them around the candle body priorto the milling, the movable parts of the machine being adapted toperform their individual movements in synchronization on an impulsestarting the sequence of movements. Such impulse may, for example,originate from the candle body supply mechanism.

In a preferred embodiment, the machine has two pairs of milling cuttersand, preferably, the two cutters milling each end of a candle body blankrotate in opposite directions in relation to said blank.

For a better understanding of the invention in its various aspects, amore detailed description will be given in the following with referenceto the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 is a schematical plan viewof an embodiment of a candle milling machine according to the invention,

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal section on line IIII of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a cross-section on 'line III--III of FIG. 1, and

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic view, showing the connections between drivingmembers of the machine, and means for activating said members.

The machine has a rectangular frame 5 resting on legs 6. Within theframe 5, two slides 7 and 8 are mounted on longitudinal guide rods 9 and10.

The slide 7 carries housings 11 enclosing bearings 12 and drivingmembers 13 for milling cutters 14 for milling the burning ends of candlebody blanks 15, and an electromotor 16 for driving the cutters 14.

Similarly, the slide 8 carries housings 17 enclosing bearings 18 anddriving members 19 for milling cutters 20 for milling the opposite endsof the candle body blanks 15 to fit in a candlestick socket, and anelectromotor 21 for driving the cutters 20. The two cutters 14 and 20 ofeach pair preferably have opposite directions of rotation.

The slides 7 and 8 are operated by double-acting pneumatic or hydrauliccylinders 22 and 23, respectively, means being provided for adjustingthe movement of the slides 7 and 8 in accordance with the length of thecandle body blanks to be milled.

Between the two sets of milling cutters 14 and 20, respectively, aholder 24 for the candle body blanks is provided. The holder 24 ismovable up and down on two vertical guide rods 25, which are mounted ona transverse brace 26 in the frame 5.

The holder 24 is in two parts 27 and 28 fitting together to form twobores 29 of cylindrical or other cross-sectional shape to hold thecandle body blanks 15.

A pneumatic or hydraulic double-acting cylinder 30 is provided formoving the holder 24 up and down on the guide rods 25, suitable means(not shown) being provided to open the holder at its top position (asshown with dotted lines in FIG. 3) for easy insertion of the candle bodyblanks, and to close it around the blanks in its downward movement.

One way of opening the holder could be to fit a springloaded sleeve 31on the piston rod 32 of the cylinder 30 to bear against part 28 of theholder being movable on the piston rod, to the end of which part 27 ofthe holder is fixed. At a suitable stage of the upward movement, part 28could then be stopped by ears 33 fixedly secured to the part 28 strikingthe stationary arms 34 secured to the upper ends, respectively, of theguide rods 25, a compression of the spring 35 allowing a slight furthermovement of part 27 and an expansion of said spring moving said part 28relative to part 27 for holding candle body blanks between them upondownward movement of the holder.

The machine functions in the following manner: In the starting position,cf. FIG. 4, the holder 24 is in top position with its parts 27 and 28slightly apart. Two candle body blanks carried forward by a cuttingdevice, working in continuation of an extruder for simultaneousextrusion of two rods of candle body material, are inserted in theholder 24. As soon as said blanks are inserted in the holder, the returnmovement of said cutting device relieves an impulse, for examplepressurized air through a pipe 31 to a change-over valve 32, causing thepneumatic cylinder 30 to pull the holder 24 down to a suitable positionon line with the milling cutters 14 and 20, at the same time moving theparts 27 and 28 of the holder 24 together to securely grip the candlebody blanks. On arriving to the working position, the holder 24 contactsa switch member 33 whereby a change-over valve 34 is caused to supplypressurized air to the bottom ends of the pneumatic cylinders 22 and 23to bring these cylinders into action to move the slides 7 and 8 forwardin order that the milling cutters 14 and 20 may simultaneously engagethe ends of the candle body blank to be milled. The electromotors 16 and21 for driving the milling cutters 14 and 20 are preferably startedbefore and running continuously.

When the slides 7 and 8 have moved sufliciently forward to finish themilling, they encounter microswitches 35, which cause the pressure fluidsupply to the cylinders 22 and 23 to be reversed, so as to withdraw theslides 7 and 8. During, and caused by this withdrawal of the slides, thepressure fluid supply to the cylinder 30 is reversed, to make the latterpush the holder 24 to its top position, where the parts 27 and 28 areslightly separated. Then newly arriving candle body blanks push out andreplace the milled ones, and the whole operation is repeated.

I claim:

1. A machine for milling the ends of a candle body comprising at leastone pair of milling cutters that are movable toward and away from eachother for simultaneous milling of both ends of a candle body to desiredform when being moved toward each other, means for effecting movement ofsaid milling cutters toward and away from each other, means for rotatingsaid milling cutters for milling the ends of said candle body, a candlebody holder which is disposed between said cutters and which comprisesoppositely disposed jaws adapted to hold a candle body between them,means for moving said :andle body holder between a first position tohold a :andle body substantially in alignment with the path of movementof said cutters and a second position away from the path of movement ofsaid cutters, means for opening said jaws when said holder is moved awayfrom the path of movement of said cutters to permit insertion )f acandle body between them, and means for closing said jaws to hold saidcandle body between them when said holder is moved into said firstposition.

2. A machine according to claim 1 which comprises means for effecting inautomatic sequence the movement of said holder from said second positionto said first position the closing of said jaws about said candle bodywhen said holder is moved into said first position, the movement of saidcutters toward and then away from the ends of the candle body held 'bysaid holder, the return movement of said holder to said second position,and the opening of said jaws of said holder when said holder is movedinto said second position.

3. A machine according to claim 1 which comprises two pairs of millingcutters, and means for rotating the cutters of each pair in oppositedirections.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 584,423 6/1897 Smith 9014 X1,538,659 5/1925 Ross 9014 X FOREIGN PATENTS 228,681 11/1910 Germany.

F ANDREW R. JUHASZ, Primary Examiner GIL WEIDENFELD, Assistant ExaminerUS. Cl. X.R.

$2253? UNITED STA/ms PATENT 0 1:

C ERTI Fl GATE OF C Q R R E CTI O N Patent No. '3 Jiglhggq Dated 5/7lnven fly) Niels; G. Barfred It is certified that error appears in theabove-identified patent and that: said Letters Patent are herebycorrected as shown below:

Claim 3, line after "the" the word -opposed-- should be inserted.

SIGNEMN.) j 1 SEALED umuhmhcommissioner of Patents

